Important: Some very bad shit went down in Virginia today - Please Read

Virginia GOP Pulls ‘Dirty Trick’ On Inauguration Day TPM

Democrats in Virginia are accusing state Republicans of taking advantage of a prominent civil rights leader’s trip to Washington for the presidential inauguration to pull a “dirty trick” in order to take control of the state Senate in the 2015 elections.

The state Senate is split 20-20 between Republicans and Democrats. On Monday, while state Sen. Henry Marsh (D) — a 79-year-old civil rights veteran — was reportedly in Washington to attend President Obama’s second inaugural, GOP senators forced through a mid-term redistricting plan that Democrats say will make it easier for Republicans to gain a majority.

With Marsh’s absence, Senate Republicans in Richmond had one more vote than Senate Democrats and could push the measure through. The new redistricting map revises the districts created under the 2011 map and would take effect before the next state Senate elections in Virginia and would redraw district lines to maximize the number of safe GOP seats.

(snip...and for an added twist of the sick-fuckers knife...)

“On motion of Senator Stosch, the Senate adjourned in memory or General Thomas J. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson at 4:10 p.m. to convene Tuesday, January 22, 2013,” read the official minutes of the legislative day.

6. They never do anything without cheating. nt

7. can anyone answer this?

Its been a long time since I was in history class in high school but i explicitly remember being taught that gerrymandering was made illegal by some law of some sort at some point. Am I remembering wrong??? Because it seems like almost once a week I hear some report about Republicans gerrymandering to win federal/state seats.

8. The Supreme Court mandated "one man, one vote"

Meaning that electoral districts had to have close to equal populations. But in a separate decision, the Court refused to strike down gerrymandering -- in which the districts are of equal sizes but are twisted all over the map in order to optimize one party's chances.

That was before computers made it easy to construct these really outrageous electoral maps and still stay within the Court's guidelines. So there's a faint chance the Court might reconsider the decision at some point -- but not with the present set of justices.

39. Some States Have Commissions Charged With Drawing The Lines

And have fair Congressional district lines drawn. Iowa is one such State and that purple State has 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans in the House so it can be done. (I know, one of them is Steve King but that is beside the point -- NW Iowa happens to be very Republican).

65. I'm still stuck with D. Issa, what a jerk.

75. While "both sides have done it"

I firmly reject your premise, yes, our side has a couple places where the districts are a little weird, but that doesn't compare at all to the state of most of the country, where the only reason the Rs have any say is because they are twisting things so strongly they are way beyond where they ever should be, and it's only going to get worse.

80. Va. had proposed joint Robert Lee-Stonewall Jackson - ML King Day

In the 1980s, many Virginia legislators seriously fought against designating ML King Day as a state holiday. Eventually, they proposed what they considered to be a compromise. They would take the existing state holiday that they had in place for Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and add Martin Luther King's name to the end of it. It would be Lee-Jackson-King Day.

92. Who says Rethugs aren't racist?....

...at least the Virginia variety. Adjourned in memory of a nut job, racist war monger. These people just won't let it go. What do we have to do? Take them all to Appomattox and rub their collective noses in it? You lost! Get over it or get the hell out!

29. Wow, BYE idiot.

21. How is it possible to bring up a bill without it being published on a docket in advance?

And do they truly have no quorum requirements? In most bodies, you must have a majority of members present in order to conduct business. If the Dems all walked out, there would not have been a majority present.

25. From thinkprogress

Just last month, the state’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli lobbied to have the state exempt from the Voting Rights Act’s redistricting requirements because the state had “outgrown” racism. Largely, redistricting has disenfranchised Democratic votes.
The gerrymandering bill now goes to the heavily Republican House of Delegates for a vote, where it will likely face little opposition.

58. This doesn't have anything to do with the electoral college.

63. Actually it could

Republicans in a number of states are trying to tie allocations of electoral votes to the distribution of election districts, the Congressional District Method. So if the districts are gerrymandered in favor of Republican victories, that means that the electoral votes will be swayed in favor of Republican electors in those states.

Since so many states' legislatures are dominated by Republicans, the Congressional District Method is a danger to fair counting of our votes.

28. I'll bet we're going to see a lot more of this.

It seems that last minute gerrymandering and Electoral college re-calculating is the golden key for Republicans to take total control of government again.

Especially since everything in the country is turning against them, open and honest elections will not treat them well so I predict we will see lots of extreme, desperate actions and every dirty trick in the book taken by Republicans in the next few years.

30. K&R nt

31. I'm Surprised This Is Even Legal

First, today is a national holiday so why is the State Senate even in session. Second, the boundary lines have already been drawn for this decade so under what authority can they draw them up again unless under court order. Lastly, naked partisan moves like this don't go down well with American citizens so while there may be short term gain the odd of this biting them in the back side just shot up.

48. You took the words right out of my mouth....

....thought exact same thing and was going to post after I read through comments....

And yet what we both thought seems so common sense, but that doesnt mean it didnt happen...now the real question is how do we we reverse this and stop this sh*t from continuing? I am so tired....you would think at a time when people see the greatest cheater and liar of all time in the news (Armstrong) that people would say "enough" and want to change our societyinto one that doesnt accept this kind of cheating and dishonesty.

And then again, maybe that is the bigger problem....our society has become one that accepts this behaviour and therefore until they say no more, the governmental entities like the GOP in VA will be able to continue this and the rest of the GOP's plans to effectively steal the electoral on an a la carte basis in the future.....because no one is stopping them or holding them accountable and the public seems to not care....

33. They know they can't win legally.Never have, never will.We must stop them.Get the money out of govt

50. Organizing for Action.....

....just hit me as I read your post....

I like others here got the email from the President with the video from Michelle Obama.....Obama for America became "Organizing for Action".... Action to keep things moving in right direction....Action to stop what the special interest groups and corporations have done...Action to protect our voting rights....

Obama is brilliant....he understands that it cant end with his election....and he is truly turning back to us and saying its our democracy if we take responsibility....and action....

Wow....like an epiphany, it just made me realize how brilliant and important this is....I wasnt going to donate....I felt maxed out after this horrendous election cycle....but even if its just $10 - I am in...and it will be interesting to see how others react and how this evolves....and not just donate - actually participate and go volunteer....

Meanwhile, I am just hoping and praying that Senator Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, today takes some very important steps regarding Senate business and the filibuster....

Hey, a girl can dream, right? But seeing our President sworn in for a 2nd time yesterday, on MLK day, with Medgar Evers widow standing there, made me realize, dreams do come true....

34. Didn't the repukes in NC do the same $hit last year.......

A Dem attended the funeral of a family member and the repukes took advantage of that one day attendance total to call a quorum, I think and pass some legislation - I can't remember what the legislation was.........but it sucked!

43. Are the dems begging them for a grand bargain?

I'm sure there must be some deal or grand bargain?? They can't just push their agenda and leave out all the democrats, right?
Our party always tries to bargain with them and give them as much as they want so we can have a nice mushy weak bipartisan deal.

44. Resorting to their usual

45. and don't forget guns

I believe that concurrent with this shenanigans already described, this is the day that residents of Virginia descend on the State Legislature ARMED and walk around "lobbying" for even greater gun rights.....

46. When I was in the eighth grade back before the days of vinyl records, I was taught

in civics class that gerrymandering or similar practices were illegal. Or am I remembering that wrong? Maybe I was taught it should be illegal. It should be because it is undermining our Democracy and seems to border a bit on political treason.

47. Horrible. However, I will say that

if the Dems in any office haven't learned by now NEVER to trust the GOPeas, they are asking for this.
NEVER trust them because they are always up to something, and NEVER assume they won't stoop to the lowest level possible.

54. To what?

Interfere with a state's right to choose how it appoints electors to the Electoral College as described in Article II, Section I of the Constitution? Assuming he could actually try something, it will never stand in court and the administration needs the ensuing firestorm of federal overreach for partisan gain like a hole in the head. I was under the impression he wanted to get something done in the second term. This isn't it. If you want ANOTHER excuse for Republicans to call for impeachment, this would be a good one, and they might actually have a chance.

The ONLY thing that can be done is a constitutional amendment to trash the Electoral College once and for all.

56. Repugs are afraid of progress and cant handle DEMOCRACY. the SHAME is theirs.

57. Losers.

How must it feel to be a member of a party that has to cheat in order to win...and how long do they think they can keep it up? The Demographics are changing and will eventually overtake any effort to cheat their way through.

Enjoy what little power you have while it lasts dumb asses, your days are numbered.

73. Holy shit dude. You're just on a roll today, tough guy. nt

72. Can there be any doubt of the veracity of DHS's 2009 assessment that domestic right-wing extremist

groups pose the greatest threat to our country, its people and government, a threat even great than posed by Islamic extremists? And yes, the Republican-controlled legislatures across the country which have passed a passel of rotten ALEC-written laws and retained control of the U.S. House of Representatives through pissy gerrymandering, are, imo, domestic right-wing extremist groups. The threat is real and ever present.

101. Unfortunately, un.ess you live in Va. they don't GAS!

I'd be HAPPY to write to both of the contacts you listed, but I've tried doing things like that before, and have heard many times from local and Fed. politicians that if you aren't one of a politician's "voters" they don't bother to even read your letter (or email). Many of the members of the US Congress woon't even let you email their office if you aren't in their state or district.

78. The Reality.

The reality, in the near term, is this would protect, prohibit, isolate the republicans from actually facing the very demographic factors they should be paying heed to in order to survive over the next 20 - 30 years. Sounds like the dinosaurs praying for more asteroid strikes.

90. I wonder if the blue portions of Virginia could seperate

91. How predictable that the GOP would resort to these tactics

But then I remember what happened back in 2000. Ever since then, it seems democracy in this country has gone the way of the dodo. I really hope the American people will wake up and realize the dirty actions that the GOP is committing.